iTunes library and playlists are gone

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iTunes library and playlists are gone

I have switched on my iMac this morning to find that all my iTunes (v10.5.3 (3)) playlists and songs have disappeared?? I've tried to redirect where the library is (it's in the local iTunes directory) but it won't show any of my songs?? I've tried to import my playlists again, and it goes through importing them and then nothing? No error message, nothing?? I have also tried rebooting my iMac which is not helping, and it's not letting me go back to my timeline on my time machine either?? This is getting quite frustrating as all of this is happening since I've upgraded to Lion in the last 3 months. Also, the only songs it's showing is the latest bought songs from the iTunes store for the past 3 months, which is not even an hours worth of songs compared to my 36 day songlist. Can someone please help as I am running out of ideas.

Thanks

Dinis

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Feb 29, 2012 5:13 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 29, 2012 6:53 PM in response to pxpduo

Tried running Disk Utility and verifying your drive? Sounds like several major issues.

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Answer 2

pxpduo Author

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Feb 29, 2012 7:30 PM in response to Limnos

Yes, I have done a verify on my drive and it comes back fine. If it was my HDD there would be other issues with some other programs, how ever all other programs on my imac are running and performing fine. This issue seems to be software driven and not hardware driven.

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Answer 3

pxpduo Author

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Feb 29, 2012 9:56 PM in response to pxpduo

Also I've found that my 2 iPhones 4, iPad and iPod are not syncing correctly in iTunes. I have restored all 4 devices but I still get the same result. The error says "The iPhone could not be synced because the sync session failed to start." This is now happening constantly in iTunes. Also, I noticed that when I logged into my iMac this morning iTunes was smaller and all preferences had been reset back to default, Genius was turned off, movies, TV shows, Podcast and iTuneU are not displaying anything except for introduction videos and iTunes Store Link, and most of my apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod have gone and I cannot find them.

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Answer 4

Mar 1, 2012 6:15 AM in response to pxpduo

Did you do any major relocating of files or change the name on your account or main user folder?

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Answer 5

pxpduo Author

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Mar 1, 2012 12:54 PM in response to Limnos

That's the weird thing, I haven't changed anything on my iMac. I haven't added any new software or changed the location of my files. I'm still curious as to why iTunes is looking like it was just installed and never been used before?? I would have to say that this maybe the problem with iTunes, it's acting like it's never been used before, and only accessing the recently bought songs. I've double checked and made sure that iTunes is lookinf in the right location (/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media). I've tried moving it to /Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music but nothing happens. I can see all the folders and files in all the folders.

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Answer 6

Mar 1, 2012 1:00 PM in response to pxpduo

It's the library.itl file that controls everything, not the preferences settings. It is acting like you don't have a valid library file or it can't find it and is reverting to a default blank library file. Poke around your music folders and see what library files you have, the file size, and when they were last modified.

What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

iTunes 9: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3547807

see also:

Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2741246?answerId=13025536022#13025536022

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Answer 7

pxpduo Author

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Mar 1, 2012 6:10 PM in response to Limnos

I've managed to find the files. the iTunes Library.itl was last modified today at 6:52am. However there is an iTunes Library (Damaged) file in the iTunes folder and also in my Trash? Infact, the whole iTunes folder with Album Artwork, iPod Games, iTunes Library (Damaged), Extras, Genius, xml and .itl, iTunes Media, iTunes Music, Library and Previous iTunes Libraries is my Trash as well as in the iTunes folder?? Can I delete the .itl so it can regenerate a new one or do I need to go to an older version (if I can find one) in my trash?

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Answer 8

Mar 1, 2012 8:13 PM in response to pxpduo

Wow, those should not be in the trash (I hope you start doing backups now). Try dragging them out and putting it all back together as indicated in the links above. Make an extra copy of the library files, especially the .xml version and tuck them away in another folder. The damaged file isn't a good sign but once you get it all back together you can try starting iTunes and see if it is happy with your reconstruction. It is possible the damaged library won't be complete and you will need to import the xml copy into an empty library window to try and reconstruct your library.

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Answer 9

pxpduo Author

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Mar 1, 2012 10:31 PM in response to Limnos

Thanks, it was the .itl file. I've managed to restore everything back to how it was. However, I closed iTunes, then deleted the old .itl file and then reopened iTunes, which created a new .itl file and iTunes then thought it was a new install. Once everything was loaded back into iTunes as a new install, I then went back to my time machine and restored back to a week ago, which now looks and works fine. Thanks for all of you help🙂

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Answer 10

Mar 2, 2012 5:45 AM in response to pxpduo

Great!

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